Where is this Senator saga? They know what can bring development but dont want to do it because they want to use the people to do lebul work. Interview with Mr. Aguariavwodo. Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Emmanuel Aguariavwodo Managing Director of NDDC. The people need to be in the driving seat of development’ You were appointed at the end of 2003 as the Managing Director of NDDC, and before that you were at the House of Representatatives. Could you tell the readers of The Independent how your background prepared you for the position you are currently occupying? I am a trained Economist. After my degree, I worked as a journalist, a financial reporter for the African Guardian, a member of the Guardian group, from 1985 to 1987. Then I worked very closely with the founder and chairman of the Ibru Organisation, Chief Michael Ibru, where I ran an oil exploration company for him for 8 years. I also worked as his personal assistant. After that I worked closely with the multinational companies in the oil industry before I went to the House of Representatives in 1999. While at the House of Representatives, I attended Harvard University, the John F. Kennedy School of Government on a six week course on budgeting and financial management in the public sector. Since then I have been here at NDDC. Looking a little more closely at the NDDC; the organization was established by President Obasanjo in 1999 through a bill passed by the Nigerian National Assembly. Why would you say NDDC was set up and what was the vision driving its formation? NDDC became important and necessary because of a vacuum. There was an absence of the Federal Government in this region and past experiments to revive the area had failed. The president can be called one of ours in this region because during the civil war, he fought in this region. He knows that this is the region that carries the rest of the country; therefore he is very much interested in the lives of the people here. The years of neglect had rendered whatever infrastructure that was in place obsolete. Schools and hospitals were absent in every aspect. If you go to some communities, children were learning under trees, some in buildings without roofs. So the vision of NDDC as conceived by the President is to cater for a region that was neglected. The Niger Delta must be lifted away from squalor to a happy region.The reason is that until today if you go down the street and you knock on a door, they would open the door before they ask you who you are. In other parts of the world, before they open the door, they would peep through the key hole to see who you are. But because of the accommodation and friendliness of the people, they would open the door before they ask what they could do for you. The Niger Delta people have, embedded in them, the spirit of freedom. However, the many years of neglect made the people of the region wonder whether they were part of this enterprise called Nigeria. So the President wanted to re-establish this feeling of belonging by bringing hope, by bringing this institution that is supposed to tackle this problem and send the message that this is how it can be done, this is how it should be done, and this is how the organisation would work. Can anybody tell me the message he send when he was in NDDC, Rep and now Senator that has favour our Urhobos Nation? If this man truly know that his people are being neglected, what he is doing to make his people be recognized? Three office of sleepness, and he will come out in fourth office that he is the best. Urhobo Nation, what is wrong with your top leaders? Where is the Senator and house namal Rep?
Posted on: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 09:01:39 +0000
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